by Maria Spiliopoulou
ATHENS, June 11 (Xinhua) -- Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras held a telephone conversation "in a very good climate" with his Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) counterpart Zoran Zaev on Monday over the long-standing Macedonia name row, according to an e-mailed announcement.
"The two leaders spoke cordially for about an hour and agreed to speak by phone again on Tuesday morning," says the statement issued from Tsipras' office.
The telephone contact between the two leaders was presented by both sides lately as one of the last crucial steps at this phase of negotiations to settle the name dispute.
Talks on ministerial level concluded in May after months of UN-mediated efforts and technical teams added the final details in the draft agreement the two prime ministers received.
Despite glitches and objections by opposition parties and protests from hardliners, both Athens and Skopje have insisted that there was positive momentum to reach a good agreement this June before the EU summit later this month which will consider FYROM's aspirations to join the EU.
The name row started in 1991 when FYROM declared independence from Yugoslavia and picked the name Macedonia, which is also the name of a northern Greek province.
Athens expressed concern from the beginning that the use of the same name by the neighboring state could lead to territorial claims.
